It has been a tumultuous year in South African politics, but we end it in slightly better shape than we started it – with a dangerous president increasingly running out of road, writes Arthur Christopher.

Malema trust is no secret – ANCYL

The trust reportedly used to fund ANCYL president Julius Malema’s lifestyle is no secret, league secretary Sindiso Magaqa said.

The trust was used for various charitable causes, he told a media briefing in Johannesburg today.

“The trust is registered with the master of the high court and its public,” he said.

On Sunday, City Press reported that Malema was the sole trustee of a “secret” family trust, named after his five-year-old son, which he allegedly uses to finance his lavish lifestyle.

Malema had denied that the trust was being used to launder illicit funds, but “declined to divulge its purpose or bank balance”.

On Saturday, Malema sought an urgent court interdict to stop City Press from publishing a report on the trust.

The application was dismissed by Judge Colin Lamont in the South Gauteng High Court.

Malema’s legal team argued that his public image could be seriously damaged if details of the trust fund were published.

But Lamont found that City Press had taken reasonable steps to test the credibility of its sources and that intrusion into Malema’s private life was warranted as he is a public person.

Opposition parties have since called on the SA Revenue Service to investigate Malema’s wealth, claiming it is not compatible with his reported R25 000 a month salary.

Yesterday, the Democratic Alliance said it would write to Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, requesting her to investigate the latest allegations levelled against Malema.

On the same day, AfriForum, an Afrikaner lobby group suing Malema over his singing of a liberation struggle song containing the words “shoot the Boer”, lodged a criminal complaint against the youth league leader at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria.

A corruption case was opened against him in accordance with the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act of 2004.

Writing on the blog “Constitutionally Speaking” legal expert Professor Pierre de Vos said Malema could face up to 15 years in jail if convicted in terms of the Act and his assets could be confiscated.

De Vos wrote that the act criminalised almost “all imaginable forms of corruption in rather broad terms”.

This made it easy, “in theory”, he said, to secure a successful prosecution in a corruption case.

He further wrote that the allegations contained in the City Press report “completely destroy Malema’s credibility”.

This could be restored by Malema suing the paper for defamation.

If he chose not to do this, De Vos believed it would indicate that he was corrupt.

Meanwhile, Cosatu has called for an investigation into Malema’s financial affairs.

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